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For Query: Linguist 11.2780
Some time ago I posted a query about readings in the history of
linguistics. I received two replies, which I quote in full.
John Phillips wrote:
The first half of Pieter Seuren's "Western Linguistics, an historical
introduction" is a chronological account of the subject. It's well
written and entertaining and I'm sure you could find some sections
in it which would be suitable as readings.
Peter T. Daniels wrote:
The standard remains, with good reason, R. H. Robins' *Short History of
Linguistics* (I believe the 3d ed. was the last).
If you need a short overview, there's the chapter in the new Blackwell
*Handbook of Linguistics* by your own Lyle Campbell.
Here are some suggestions if your students want to do a paper in the
area:
Unexpectedly fascinating is P. I. Matthews, *Grammatical Theory in the
United States, 1925-1950* (or something like that), in the Cambridge
Blue series, which shows conclusively how Chomsky grows out of, and is
not a reaction against, Bloomfied and his followers.
For the period that has attracted the most attention, the treatment
that's most objective and satisfactory (because it's by a historian of
science and not by a partisan) is Randy Allan Harris, *The Linguistics
Wars*.
And some of the contributions to Lepschy's History of Linguistics (4
vols. now available in English) are readable, most notably Matthews
again, on the Classical grammarians; but most of them aren't (but
they're filled with detail).
Fay Wouk
Institute of Linguistics
University of Auckland
ccu1auckland.ac.nz